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HERO FOLK OF 
ANCIENT BRITAIN 


Edit e/d by 


SARA E.WILTSE, 


Drawings by 

GRISELDA M. M C CLURL 


GINN AND COMPANY 

Boston New York Chicago London 





COPYRIGHT, 1911, BY SARA E. WILTSE 


ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 


rom 


GINN ANI) COMPANY • PRO- 
PRIETORS • BOSTON • U.S.A 



INTRODUCTION 


In his admirable work on English litera- 
ture Mr. William J. Long points out five 
great principles, one or more of which is 
reflected in every poem or story possessing 
the elements of immortal interest. These 
principles are love of personal freedom, re- 
sponsiveness to nature, religion, reverence 
for womanhood, and love of glory. 

Applying such a test to the ancient stories 
presented in this volume, we find one or two of 
these principles shining from every incident. 

It is not known who first told these tales; 
we only know that Jack the Giant Killer 
and Tom Thumb are in the goodly company 
of King Arthur’s Knights, and that Jack 
of Beanstalk fame flourished in the days of 
England’s Darling, Alfred the Great. 


IV HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

The pictures and language are harmonized * 
with the times: arms, dress, and domestic 
architecture present no anachronisms. 

Adhering to the principle of all editorial 
work heretofore done by me, the emphasis of 
these stories has been changed by simply 
laying stress upon the positive virtues of 
kindness to neighbors and love of king and 
country. 

For obvious reasons the latest addition to 
Tom Thumb, dating back to the sixteenth 
century, is entirely omitted, having no more 
right there than any vulgar tale would have 
if picked up to-day in bad company. 


SARA E. WILTSE 


CONTENTS 



JACK THE GIANT KILLER 

Part I 

Part II. Old Blunderbeard . . 

Part III. The Two-Headed Giant 


Part IV. The Giant with Three Heads 


Part V. The Giant Thundel 


Part VI. The Giant Galligantus 


JACK AND THE BEANSTALK 


TOM THUMB 


Part II. Tom comes back to Earth 


Part III. Tom Thumb and King Thunston 







HERO FOLK OF 
ANCIENT BRITAIN 



























* 


































JACK THE GIANT KILLER 

PART I 


Once upon a time, in the reign of good 
King Arthur, a farmer with his only son, 
Jack, lived in County Cornwall, England, 
near Lands End. The farmer told Jack many 
stories about King Arthur’s deeds of valor, 
and every boy longed to do some great thing 
which w T ould make him worthy to become a 
knight of the famous Round Table order. 

When Jack was in the field looking after 
his father’s sheep and cattle, he used to 
plan battles and sieges, using sticks for sol- 
diers and piles of stones for castles. Few 
boys could throw Jack in a wrestling match. 
When beaten he would think long and care- 
fully on the way it had been done, and 
would practice the movement by which he 


2 


HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 


was thrown, until even men were slow to try 
their strength against his skill. 

In those days a huge giant lived in a 
cavern on the top of Mount Cornwall, which 
rises out of the sea at some distance from 
the mainland. This giant was so ferocious 
that everybody in Cornwall lived in terror 
of his visits. When he waded across in search 
of prey, people ran and hid, leaving their sheep 
and cattle for him to carry off at his pleasure. 
For many years the coast of Cornwall had 
been a free hunting ground for this monster, 
and Jack made up his mind that he would do 
his neighbors a service by ridding the earth 
of the Cornwall giant. 

First of all, the lad decided to get a look at 
his intended victim. To accomplish this he 
had to take the risk of being caught by the 
giant, who, it was said, liked human flesh 
better than that of sheep or cattle. 


JACK THE GIANT KILLER 


3 


One day Jack saw the people running like 
leaves before the wind. Cattle huddled in 
bunches, bellowing with fright. Lambs bleated 
in helpless terror as the giant strode among 
them, swinging his bloody club. Jack nimbly 
climbed a tree, taking care to keep the trunk 
between himself and the hideous creature. 
From a branch high in the air Jack had a 
good look at his enemy, and he saw that the 
giant could easily take a boy of his size be- 
tween his thumb and finger and whirl him 
as a boy tosses a bat in play. 

Jack knew now that his wit must oppose 
the giant’s strength, so one very dark night 
he swam from the mainland to the mountain, 
making himself familiar with the place. He 
took a shovel, which he hid near the entrance 
to the cave. The next night he took a pick- 
ax across, and spent some time examining 
the ground. He discovered that the earth 


4 


HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 


was soft and rather sandy. The third night 
he went very early, taking a lantern with him, 
and a hunting horn, which he hid with the 
shovel and pickax. 

Not long after these preparations the giant 
made another visit to the mainland, helping 
himself to property which the owners were 
afraid to defend. After gorging himself in 
the cave to which he carried the fattest sheep 
and the finest cattle, the giant slept like a 
great overfed animal. 

Jack went to the mountain early in the 
evening, and he could hear the giant snore 
long before reaching the mouth of the 
cave. 

With shovel and pickax Jack set to work 
as if his life depended upon each stroke. He 
dug a pit near the entrance to the cave, deep 
enough to cover the giant if he stumbled into 
it, which was exactly what Jack intended he 


5 



should do. Before daylight J ack had covered 
the pit with branches, on which he sprinkled 
a little earth, and just as the sun rose he put 
the horn to his lips and blew a blast both long 
and loud. This awoke the giant, who came to 
the opening and, seeing Jack, roared: " You 
shall pay dearly for waking me. I ’ll boil you 
for my breakfast.” 

Running forward to catch the boy, who so 
boldly faced him, the giant tumbled head- 
foremost into the pit. 

Jack bent over the hole and shouted, "Will 
you have Jack boiled like an egg for your 
breakfast now ? ” 

By this time the giant was on his feet, but 
he was so stunned by the fall that Jack easily 
ended his life with one sharp blow of the 
pickax. 

The people were most grateful to Jack, 
and the chief authorities called a meeting at 



6 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

which he was named Jack the Giant Killer. 
They also gave him a sword and belt. On 
the belt, in letters of gold, these words shone 
like the rising sun : 

This is the valiant Cornishman 
Who slew the giant Cormoran. 

Jack had a right to be proud of this well- 
earned belt which he wore wherever he went. 
You may be sure he did not allow the letters 
of gold to tarnish nor the sword to rust. 
Many a time he would lay the belt on a rock 
in front of him and touch the words "valiant 
Cornishman” with the tip of his finger, saying 
aloud, " I must always deserve that title.” 

The first use Jack made of his sword was in 
bloodless warfare with thistles that choked the 
good grain. He slashed off their heads, and 
soon grain began to grow in place of weeds. 


PART II 


OLD BLUNDERBEARD 

There was still another giant, more dreaded 
by all good people than the one just slain had 
been. This giant lived in the west of Eng- 
land, and was known far and near by the 
name of Blunderbeard. He lived upon human 
flesh and kept an enchanted castle in the 
midst of a great forest. When he heard that 
Jack had killed his friend, the giant Cormo- 
ran, he vowed to take Jack’s life. 

The people of Cornwall having settled to 
their peaceful farming, Jack started on a long 
journey into Wales. He wore the glittering 
sword and shining belt given him by his 
grateful neighbors, and, being of a fearless 
and venturesome nature, went alone into the 
deep woods which covered a vast stretch 
of land between Cornwall and Wales. 


7 


8 



HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 


Walking in a dense forest is no easy sport. 
Our hero clambered over many fallen trees, 
through many thick tangles, and into many 
dark ravines, before he was weary. But 
coming to a fountain of clear water bubbling 
out of a stony bank, he sat down to eat some 
bread and cheese. Now the fountain was en- 
chanted, and Jack had no sooner tasted its 
cool water than he fell into a heavy sleep. 

Old Blunderbeard, watching from his castlfc, 
knew there was a stranger within his domains, 
and, as soon as Jack was asleep, walked down 
to the fountain, read the lines on the intru- 
der’s belt, and picking the lad up as if he 
were but a toy soldier, stalked away with him. 

The giant’s lumbering gait and the crash- 
ing of branches as he strode through the 
thicket awoke Jack, who was somewhat scared 
to find himself in the clutch of old Blunder- 
beard. But he made no sign of fear, and was 


JACK THE GIANT KILLER 


9 


planning means of escape long before the 
giant discovered that he was awake. 

Old Blunderbeard, however, gave him no 
chance of getting out of his grasp until he 
got him inside his horrid castle, and into a 
room littered with skulls and bones of former 
victims. Here he set Jack down and spoke 
for the first time. What he said might well 
terrify one less valiant than- Jack, for it was a 
blood-curdling speech: "Your heart will make 
me a tasty mouthful when well seasoned.” 

Jack’s wit was nimble as his body, and he 
quickly answered, " I brought good sauce from 
Cormoran’s cave, but your own blood will fur- 
nish red vinegar for the next feast in this castle. 

This so enraged the giant that he threw 
Jack headlong into a cell and went to fetch 
another giant to witness Jack’s death. 

Jack wasted no time in rubbing his bruised 
elbows, but began at once to hunt for some 




~u. 


HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 



means of escape. He tried the door, — of 
course it was bolted on the outside. While 
searching the floor for some weapon he heard 
a mournful voice repeating these words : 

Haste, valiant stranger, haste away, 

Lest you become the giant’s prey. 

On his return he ’ll bring another, 

Still more savage than his brother;- — 

A horrid, cruel monster, who 
Before he kills will torture you. 

Oh ! valiant stranger haste away 
Or you ’ll become the giant’s prey.” 

These terrifying words did not dismay Jack, 
who only vowed to himself that he would re- 
lease the unhappy people, whose moans and 
cries could be heard in all directions. Before 
the last words of the warning were uttered, 
however, Jack had found two strong cords 
which had bound other prisoners in that cell, 
perhaps he would have been bound had 



JACK THE GIANT KILLER 1 1 

not the giant been made so angry by his 
ready retort. Slipknots were quickly made 
at the ends of both ropes, which Jack coiled 
around his hand and then braced himself in 
a narrow opening in the wall, which served as 
a window. This opening was directly over the 
castle gate. There was no time to lose, for 
two giants were already coming, arm in arm. 

" Now,” Jack thought, " it is either death or 
freedom ” ; and as the giants came through 
the gate, he flung the ropes over their heads, 
drew them taut, tossed the ends in his hands 
over a beam in the cell, threw his whole weight 
upon the pulley, and choked the giants until 
they gave up the struggle. He then made 
the ropes fast to the beam, went down one 
of them, hand over hand, until within reach 
of his enemies, when, with one stroke for each, 
he cut off their heads. 

Now he took the castle keys from old 


12 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 


Blunderbeard’s pockets, and made a strict 
search in every room. In the very first one 
he found three beautiful ladies cruelly tied 
to the wall by their hair. 

When Jack released them and told the 
good news of freedom for all the prisoners, 
these ladies showed the way to another room 
where their husbands were pinioned, having 
undergone shameful torture at the hands of 
the giant. 

Jack soon learned that all the prisoners 
were loyal subjects of King Arthur, and that 
the giant had possessed himself of their treas- 
ure as well as their, persons. 

After a joyous feast in honor of this great 
victory Jack left the lords and ladies in full 
possession of the castle, refusing any reward 
except the report to Arthur and his Knights 
of what Jack the Valiant Cornishman had 
done to serve his country and his king. 


PART III 


THE TWO-HEADED GIANT 

Jack, having little money, was forced to 
travel as fast as his feet could carry him. It 
was not long before he lost his way in a valley 
that was overshadowed by two high moun- 
tains. After wandering all day without seem- 
ing to make any progress, he was well pleased 
to see a house at last. He went boldly to the 
door and rapped loudly. There were no lights, 
and Jack thought the inmates might be sound 
asleep, for the hour was late. The echo of his 
loud rapping had not died away, however, be- 
fore the door was opened by a monstrous two- 
headed giant, who barred the entrance. 

J ack was too well-bred to seem to notice any- 
thing unusual in the appearance of a monster 
with two heads, and greeting him pleasantly, 
told how he had lost his way and asked for 


14 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

a night’s lodging. The giant covered his 
malice and cruelty with a great show of friend- 
liness. He invited Jack to come in, and wel- 
comed him to a room set apart for travelers. 
The room was well furnished, and the giant 
bade Jack good night, wishing him sound 
sleep and good rest. 

There was something evil in the giant’s 
voice, although his words were kind, and some- 
thing threatening in his rolling eyes, that 
made Jack sit up in bed and plan means to 
escape from the house which he had so gladly 
entered. He was tired and footsore, yet he 
could not sleep. 

About midnight he heard some one walk- 
ing in a room next \o his own, and, listening 
sharply, heard the giant muttering : 

" Though here you lodge with me this night, 

You shall not see the morning light ; 

My club shall dash your brains out, quite.” 


JACK THE GIANT KILLER 


15 


" Say you so ? ” thought Jack. " Is this the 
way you treat travelers whom you welcome 
to your guest chamber ? I ’ll match your trick- 
ery with my cunning, or I ’ll give my sword 
and belt back to County Cornwall.” 

Thereupon he crept softly out of bed, and, 
feeling his way about the room, found a heavy 
billet of wood. This he put into the bed 
where he was supposed to be lying, spread 
the cover over it, and hid in the darkest 
corner of the chamber. 

Shortly after he had done so the giant 
came into the room and pommeled the billet 
of wood with his club, supposing he was 
breaking every bone in Jack’s body. 

Early next day Jack went down to bid the 
giant good morning and thank him for the 
hospitality he had shown. Our hero had con- 
cluded that he would do his country further 
service by destroying this deceitful creature. 




1 6 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 


The giant was surprised to see his guest 
alive ; indeed he was already stirring up the 
coals over which he was preparing to broil 
Jack’s well-pounded flesh for his breakfast. 

When Jack bade him a cheerful good morn- 
ing, he could only stammer: " Pray how did 
you sleep ? I hope nothing you may have 
heard or seen disturbed your rest.” 

" Nothing worth speaking about,” Jack 
lightly answered ; " I believe a rat did give 
me two or three whacks with its tail. But it 
must have whisked up the chimney or into 
a hole, for I was not quite awakened by it. 
Perhaps I dreamed it, after all.” 

The giant was more scared now than Jack 
had been in the night. But he ordered two 
great bowls of hasty pudding and politely 
invited Jack to have breakfast with him. 
Jack wished to make his host believe that he 
could eat as much as any giant in the land, 


JACK THE GIANT KILLER 


1 7 


so while the monster was gulping hot pud- 
ding with both mouths, Jack slyly opened 
his tunic and slipped his pudding, bowl and 
all, into a leathern bag concealed under his 
garments. 

Before the giant could say a word Jack 
gayly exclaimed : “ Now I will show you a 
fine trick in return for your hospitality. I 
could cut off my head and put it on again, 
but I will rip open my stomach instead. I 
seldom eat big bowls with my pudding, and 
I feel a slight pain.” 

Jack then seized a knife, and cutting 
through his tunic and into the leather bag, 
spilled the pudding on the floor without 
breaking the bowl. 

The giant, ashamed to be outdone by a 
little fellow like Jack, cried, " Ods splutter 
hur nails — hur can do that hurself,” and 
picking up a knife, slashed himself open. 






1 8 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 



In a moment he fell dead by his own stupid 
hand. 

Jack made all haste to leave the giant’s 
house, very thankful for whole bones in his 
body and for the unexpected self-destruction 
of one more enemy of the king. 

Our hero had now done his country much 
service. He had freed his neighbors from 
fear of the vile Cormoran, he had set free a 
great number of men and women who had 
been prisoners in the castle of old Blunder- 
beard, and had caused the wicked two-headed 
monster to destroy himself. Surely he had 
deserved his sword and belt. 

Whenever there were no giants at hand, 
Jack turned his strength to fighting the 
stones and weeds that spoiled the crops. 



PART IV 


THE GIANT WITH THREE HEADS 

Not long after this adventure Jack met the 
only son of King Arthur, who was traveling 
in Wales. The prince was without servants, 
having left his father’s court to rescue a 
beautiful lady from an enchantment. Great 
secrecy had to be observed by the prince, 
for he might be betrayed and thrown under 
some spell more dreadful than that of the 
lady whom he wished to serve. He soon 
learned, however, that Jack could be trusted, 
and they both were pleased to travel together. 

The prince was of a generous disposition, 
and gave money so freely to every poor peas- 
ant whom he met that he was soon reduced 
to severe straits for food and shelter. 

At last a night came when they had not a 
crust nor a piece of money between them, and 


is 







20 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 


the prince turned to Jack, saying, "How shall 
we provide for ourselves ? ” 

" Leave that to me, sir,” said Jack. " I 
will provide for my honored prince.” 

Rain began to fall, but Jack, by bending 
some saplings together and thatching them 
with leafy branches, made a well-covered tent 
for his prince. 

" Be of good heart, my prince, and stay 
here a few hours. I know a three-headed giant 
who lives not more than two miles from this 
spot. He can fight five hundred men and 
make them run before him like sheep.” 

" Alas, Jack ! ” replied the prince ; " we can- 
not brave such a monster.” 

"My lord, leave me to manage him ; do 
you but wait here until I come back,” Jack 
made answer. 

So the prince stayed behind, while Jack, 
taking one of the prince’s horses, rode at full 









22 


HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 


speed to the very gate of the castle, where 
he knocked loudly, encouraging the horse to 
make a great clatter with his hoofs. 

The giant roared with all three of his voices 
at once, " Who ’s there ? ” 

"No one but your poor cousin Jack,” was 
the reply. 

" Well, what news, Cousin Jack ? ” 

" Dear uncle, I have heavy news,” said Jack. 
" Pooh ! ” answered the giant ; " no heavy 
news can come to me. Am I not the great 
three-headed giant, who can fight and drive 
before me five hundred men ? ” 

"Alas! alas!” said Jack. "Here is the 
king’s son coming. He commands two thou- 
sand men. Two thousand men can destroy 
you and your castle, as you must know.” 

"Oh, cousin Jack!” blubbered the giant, 
with all three of his mouths at once; "this 
is heavy news indeed. But I have a secret 


JACK THE GIANT KILLER 


23 


underground cave. I will hide in it, and you 
shall bar me in. When the king’s son. and 
his two thousand men are gone you will let 
me out.” 

So saying he gave Jack keys to all parts 
of his castle, glad enough to keep his three 
heads on his shoulders. 

Jack barred the giant into his secret cave, 
and made all haste back to the prince. They 
were soon in the castle, where Jack served 
the prince with the best the giant’s larder 
could supply, giving him a comfortable bed 
and assuring him that no harm could befall 
them as long as they kept the giant barred 
in his underground retreat. 

After sleeping soundly and having a good 
breakfast, Jack restored to the prince as 
much gold and silver as he had given to the 
poor in Wales. This Jack assured the prince 
was quite just, since the people were in the 


24 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

employ of the giant, who obliged them to beg 
for his miserly hoard. He then guided the 
prince full three miles beyond the castle, 
returning to let the giant out of the hole 
in which he was cowering. 

The giant offered Jack any part of his 
wealth he might choose, for he was glad to 
find his castle standing and most of his hoard 
untouched. 

" Good uncle,” said Jack, "I ask nothing 
but the tattered cap and coat, the rusty sword, 
and ragged shoes which are always kept near 
your bed.” 

"You shall have them, but you must keep 
them for your very own, Jack; they are 
magic things. The coat will make you invis- 
ible, the cap will add to your knowledge, the 
sword will cut anything, and the shoes, — ah, 
Jack! the shoes are of untold swiftness. All 
these may be of use to you in time of danger. 



JACK THE GIANT KILLER 


25 


Y ou have the wit to use them ; I am always 
forgetting them when my need is greatest. 

" Last night I bethought myself of them 
after you had barred me into the cave. One 
needs a single head like yours, Jack, to make 
even magic serve his purposes.” 

Jack thanked the giant, promised to use 
the sword in defense of all wronged people, 
and rejoined the prince. Together they went 
to the dwelling of the beautiful lady who was 
under the power of a wicked magician. She 
received the prince as became a* noble lady, 
and ordered a feast in his honor. When the 
feast was ended, the lady wiped her lips with 
a priceless handkerchief, and said: "You 
must submit, noble prince, to a custom of 
this palace. I command you to tell me to- 
morrow morning on whom I have bestowed 
this handkerchief. If y<?u fail, your head shall 
be cut from your shoulders.” 


26 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

She then left the prince, who fell into deep 
fear lest his attempt to free her from enchant- 
ment would end in the loss of his life before 
the task was half done. 

Jack bade the prince take courage, and on 
no account to leave his room in the morning 
until counsel had been taken with his faithful 
servant, Jack the Cornishman. The prince 
went to rest, but no sleep came to his eyes. 
Jack put on his cap of knowledge, which 
told him that the lady was forced by enchant- 
ment to meet the wicked magician in the 
forest every night. He thereupon hurried 
into his coat of invisibility, slipped his feet 
into the shoes of swiftness, buckled on the 
sword of sharpness, and reached the forest 
before the lady was halfway there. 

When the lady came she gave the priceless 
handkerchief to the magician. Jack’s anger 
boiled over on seeing a helpless lady in the 


JACK THE GIANT KILLER 


27 


power of a wretch more cruel than any giant. 
Without a word he swung the sword of 
sharpness so that it hissed like a snake, and 
with one blow the head of the magician was 
struck from his body. This put an end to the 
cruel enchantment. 

Jack took the lady back to the castle, for 
when the enchantment was broken she could 
not tell where she was nor why she was always 
away from her home at that hour of the night. 

She was soon restored to her former con- 
dition of honor, and accepted the prince, who 
asked her hand in marriage. Together the 
three journeyed to the court of King Arthur, 
where they were welcomed by the king and 
queen. The prince, you may be sure, told the 
king what a valiant man Jack had proved 
himself, and King Arthur called him Sir Jack, 
making him a knight of the Round Table. 



PART V 


THE GIANT THUNDEL 

Having been so successful in combat with 
these terrible giants, Jack resolved to rid 
Wales of all their tribe. He therefore asked 
the king to furnish a horse and money enough 
for such warfare. This the king did, with en- 
tire faith in Jack’s loyalty and skill in contest 
with the foes of the people. So- Jack bade 
farewell to the noble Knights of the Round 
Table and set forth alone on his perilous 
journey. He took with him his priceless cap 
of knowledge, his invincible sword of sharp- 
ness, his matchless shoes of swiftness, and 
his wondrous coat of invisibility. 

Sometimes he led his tired horse up 
steep hills and through miry marshes. They 
climbed pathless mountains and together 
were lost many times in dark ravines. 


JACK THE GIANT KILLER 


29 


One day when in a great forest he suddenly 
heard wild shrieks and mournful cries that 
chilled his very blood. Forcing his way be- 
tween trees and through tangled underwood, 
he soon caught sight of a powerful giant who 
was dragging a beautiful woman by the hair 
of her head, at the same time throttling a 
noble knight who was unable to defend the 
lady or to escape from the grip of the giant. 

Jack leaped from his horse, tied him to an 
oak sapling, put on his coat of invisibility, 
grasped his sword of sharpness, and made a 
rush upon the giant. The giant was so tall 
that Jack could reach only to his thighs. This 
was well for the knight and the lady, making 
it easy for Jack to strike without hurting 
either of them. 

Taking the sword in both hands, he made 
a stroke with all his might : off came the 
giant’s legs, and his body fell to the ground 


30 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

with a crash. Jack set his foot upon the 
giant’s neck and shouted: "Thou barbarous 
and savage wretch ! Behold, I am here to 
bestow upon thee a just punishment for all 
thy crimes ; ” and throwing off his coat of 
invisibility that the giant might see his con- 
queror, Jack instantly plunged his sword 
through the huge body. 

The noble knight and his virtuous lady 
were glad indeed to see their fierce op- 
pressor so quickly vanquished. They invited 
Jack to their house, which was close at hand. 
But Jack answered, " I cannot rest until I 
find the den in which this tyrant lived.” Sor- 
rowfully the knight replied : " Valiant stranger, 
the peril is too great. This fearful ogre lived 
in a den in yonder mountain, with his brother, 
more ferocious than himself. He will surely 
kill any one who goes near their horrid abode. 
Let me persuade you to go home with us.” 


JACK THE GIANT KILLER 


31 


"Nay,” said Jack; "if there be more of 
this brood of vipers, I would shed the last 
drop of my blood to rid the kingdom of them. 
When my task is done I will pay you a visit.” 

Jack bestrode his horse once more, and set 
his face toward the mountain where the foe 
was watching for prey. He soon came in sight 
of the mouth of a dark cavern, near which a 
giant sat with a knotted iron club by his side. 

The grim monster rolled his bloodshot eyes 
in all directions. His face was mottled, and 
a thick wiry beard bristled all over it. His 
coarse hair hung to his waist and writhed 
like snakes whenever he turned his head. 

Jack hid his horse in a thicket, put on his 
wondrous coat of invisibility, his matchless 
shoes of swiftness, his priceless cap of knowl- 
edge, and taking his invincible sword of 
sharpness, he went to the giant’s side and 
spoke these words : " O wretched and vile 


32 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

monster, I shall soon take you by the beard 
and slash your head from your shoulders.” 

The giant could see no one because of the 
coat Jack wore, but he grasped his knotted 
iron club and struck madly in front. Jack 
dodged to one side, dealt a heavy blow with 
his sword of sharpness, and the giant rolled 
over, dead as his brother. 

There was no one to oppose Jack’s entrance 
to the cave. In it he found a boiling caldron 
and a large table littered with the bones of 
captives. Through a barred window he saw 
a crowd of chained men, who wrung their 
hands and cried with loud voices, " Alas ! 
alas ! young man, flee from this den or your 
fate will be like ours.” 

Jack unbarred the window and walked 
among them, breaking their chains while 
asking how they came there. An old man 
made answer, "We are loyal subjects of 


JACK THE GIANT KILLER 


33 


good King Arthur, but these bloody giants 
have caught us, one by one, and one by one 
they kill and eat us.” 

The old man was so dazed by his long im- 
prisonment that he could not at first understand 
that he was free, and again he took up the cry : 
" Alas ! alas ! young man, flee from this horrid 
den, or you will soon be as we are. Even now 
I hear the kettle boiling for the next victim.” 

Jack led the poor man out into the clear, 
fresh air, and gave him food. When the man 
caught sight of his sons with their hands freed 
from shackles, he knew they were indeed set 
at liberty. A great feast was prepared at the 
house of the neighboring knight, to which all 
the nobles in that part of the country were 
invited. 

When the company was assembled, the 
knight who had been rescued so lately told 
the story of Jack’s great deeds. The beautiful 


34 


HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 


lady, who was the knight’s wife, presented 
Jack with a gold chain having many large 
links, upon which these words were engraved : 

Behold in dire distress were we, 

Under a giant’s fierce command ; 

But gained our lives and liberty 
From valiant Jack’s victorious hand. 

Among the guests were five aged gentle- 
men whose sons our hero had freed from a 
dungeon in the heart of the cave. They 
pressed around Jack, trying to thank him 
for the rescue of their children. Every one 
was joyous, and peals of laughter gave place 
to the cries and groans which had so lately 
filled the air. 

Suddenly a herald, pale and breathless, 
rushed into the hall, telling them to hide or 
run for their lives, for the giant Thundel had 
heard of the death of his kinsman, and was 
on his way to wreak vengeance upon Jack. 





■Mm 


JACK THE GIANT KILLER 


People were fleeing like chaff before a gale ; 
children were running around and around 
like leaves in a whirlwind ; already the voice 
of the infuriated two-headed giant Thundel 
rumbled in the distance. 

Jack put on his priceless cap of knowledge 
while the herald spoke, and when he had de- 
livered the whole message the young giant 
killer addressed the company, which obeyed 
his orders as if he had been the king him- 
self. All the ladies and gentlemen were sent 
into the garden, being assured by Jack that 
he would vanquish this giant as he had van- 
quished the others. 

Now the knight’s house stood in the 
middle of the grounds, surrounded by a moat 
which could be crossed only by a drawbridge. 
Jack set men to work cutting the drawbridge 
at both ends, working toward the middle, 
which was to be left untouched. 


36 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

The work was barely done when Thundel 
appeared in the distance. The workmen hid, 
although they knew that this time it was only 
Jack who was in danger; but their hearts 
stood still when they suddenly lost sight of 
their leader, for you must know that Jack had 
hurriedly put on his wondrous coat of invisi- 
bility, and was already across the bridge to 
meet the giant. Suddenly the giant stopped, 
turned his two heads in all directions, sniffed 
the air as a dog scents game, and muttered : 

" Fe, fi, fo, fum, 

I smell the blood of an Englishman ; 

Be he alive or be he dead, 

I ’ll grind his bones to make my bread.” 

"Say you so?” replied Jack. "You are a 
monstrous miller indeed.” 

The giant, more enraged than ever because 
he could not see with whom he spoke, ground 
his teeth, plunged forward whither Jack’s 


#1 





JACK THE GIANT KILLER 


37 


voice sounded, swinging his club and shouting: 
"Art thou that villain that killed my kins- 
man ? An’ I get my clutches on ye, I ’ll tear 
thy flesh into shreds and grind thy bones to 
powder.” 

"Say you so?” taunted Jack from another 
point of vantage. " Methinks I hear the mill- 
stones now.” And running all around the 
giant, he laughed and drawled : 

" Thundel the miller looks for a grist, 

A grist, a grist ; 

And he grinds his teeth and shakes his fist, 

His fist, his fist. 

But no more feasting on Englishmen, 

For, Thundel, you ’ve met the Cornishman.” 

With this last taunt Jack flung aside his 
wondrous coat of invisibility and sped toward 
the bridge, the giant following headlong. 

To the anxious watchers in the garden it 
looked as if Jack would surely lose his life. 





38 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

But the matchless shoes of swiftness enabled 
him to evade the giant at the very moment 
when he seemed within his grasp. At the 
middle of the bridge Jack paused for the 
giant to come close. The giant made a rush, 
the bridge shook to its foundation ; Jack sped 
lightly across, but the weight of his pursuer 
forced the wooden beams apart, and Thundel 
plunged into the dirty water of the moat, the 
falling timbers nearly severing both heads 
from his body. 

A yoke of oxen drew the giant out of the 
moat, and, according to Jack’s custom, the 
heads were sent to court, with an account of 
the manner in which Jack had slain another 
enemy of the good King Arthur. 


PART VI 


THE GIANT GALLIGANTUS 

After this adventure Jack spent some time 
at the knight’s house before he went in search 
of other foes. Indeed, he often heard from 
travelers that there was but one more giant 
in all the country. 

After a season of rest he set forth in search 
of the last of these terrible monsters. Upon 
going a long distance he came to a lonely 
house at the foot of a mountain. Knocking at 
the door, it was opened by an ancient man 
whose beard was white as snow. Jack asked 
for lodging and for any reports about giants 
living in those parts. The old man invited 
him to spend the night there, and at supper 
he spoke in this wise : " Son, I am sensible 
you are a conqueror of giants. There is one 
on the top of this very mountain. He lives in 
39 



HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 


an enchanted castle, and his name is Galli- 
gantus. By the aid of a conjurer he gets many 
knights and ladies into his domain, where he 
changes them into all sorts of wild beasts. 
I especially lament a duke’s daughter, whom 
they took from her father’s garden into a 
chariot drawn by fiery dragons. She was 
changed into the form of a hind, and although 
many knights have lost their lives in the effort 
to release her, no one has succeeded. We 
hear that those who get past the griffins at 
the gate are themselves transformed into wild 
animals. 

"You, my son, have a wondrous coat of 
invisibility, which would enable you to pass 
these griffins who guard the castle, and per- 
haps you would also escape the enchantment. 
Could you do so, you would find engraved on 
an inner gate of the castle the means whereby 
the enchantment may be broken.” 


tot, 


JACK THE GIANT KILLER 


41 


Jack pledged his faith to the old man, and 
early in the morning set forth on his mightiest 
adventure. 

When he reached the mountain top he 
passed the fiery griffins in safety because 
of his wondrous coat of invisibility. No 
sooner had he gone through the gates than a 
beautiful hind trotted to his side and laid her 
pretty head against his arm. Jack was rather 
startled by this, for it proved that his won- 
drous coat of invisibility had no magic for 
one creature at least. He thought of the tales 
he had heard of knights having become en- 
chanted and transformed, although they had 
escaped the griffins. 

But the valiant Cornishman would not ad- 
mit to himself that he felt any fear, and when 
he looked in the great soft eyes of the beau- 
tiful hind, something told him to keep her 
close by his side, whatever should happen. 







T. 




£ 


HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 


So he gently laid his hand on her smooth 
neck and went in search of the gate of which 
the ancient man had told him. He soon found 
it, and saw hanging upon it a golden trumpet. 
The beautiful hind drew very close to him 
while he read the lines that shone out beside 
the glittering horn : 

Whoever doth this trumpet blow 
Shall soon the giant overthrow, 

And break the black enchantment straight, 

So all shall be in happy state. 

Jack put the trumpet to his lips and gave 
a blast that made the hills answer with glad 
echoes. The beautiful hind was instantly 
transformed into a lovely maiden, who clung 
trembling to Jack’s arm, while lords and ladies 
came trooping out of the castle, changing 
from birds and beasts into their own proper 
shapes, as they crowded around their de- 
liverer. The castle rocked and tottered to its 








44 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

foundations ; the giant, the conjurer, and the 
enchanter were caught in its falling stones ; 
the earth yawned asunder and swallowed 
castle and giant into its deepest depths. 

Jack stood stock-still, dumb with amaze 
at what he had wrought. All breathless he 
thought of his king, and of the country now 
freed from conjurers, enchanters, and giants. 
In a flash of memory he saw the pasture 
where as a boy he had built play-castles. His 
heart leaped to think of the welcome await- 
ing him there where he had slain the giant 
Cormoran. All this time the beautiful maiden 
stood in silence beside him. Suddenly Jack 
turned to her, glad in his heart of hearts that 
she of all the crowd was the only one who 
could see him at this proud moment. 

He did not remove his wondrous coat of 
invisibility until he reached the court of 
King Arthur. But the lovely maiden saw 




JACK THE GIANT KILLER 


45 

him as she had seen him before the enchant- 
ment was broken, and she went with him to 
the king, who received them with great joy. 
The duke was summoned, for you must have 
known all along that the hind was his daugh- 
ter; but it is, perhaps, needful to tell you 
that the ancient man at the foot of the moun- 
tain was himself the duke. 

He was overcome with joy and gave his 
daughter in marriage to Jack the Valiant 
Cornishman. When the duke went back to 
his lonely house at the foot of the mountain 
he found it changed into a castle quite as 
fine as the king’s own. 

The king gave Jack gold and houses and 
land in grateful recognition of his services 
to the country in destroying all the giants 
from Lands End to Cheviot Hills. 

















































. 



JACK AND THE BEANSTALK 


A woman and her little son Jack once 
lived in Wessex. It was in the time of 
Alfred the Great, who is still known as 
England’s Darling. 

When Jack was a baby his father was 
carried off to sea by Danish pirates. Every 
battle between the bloody Danes and the 
fiery Saxons left Jack’s mother in greater 
need than before. 

When Jack began to talk he asked many 
questions about a battle-ax which always 
stood in one place near the door of his 
mother’s hut. He soon learned that every 
lisp about the big battle-ax made his mother 
cry, so he looked at it in silence, and won- 
dered all the more. 

One day when Jack was about twelve 




48 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

years old, a tall man, with a bow and arrows 
slung over his shoulder, stopped at the 
widow’s door to ask for a cup of milk. The 
widow had neither crust of bread nor cup of 
milk to give the stranger, but she asked him 
to sit down and rest. As the tired man sat, 
his eyes fell upon the great battle-ax. He 
knew without asking that a battle-ax stand- 
ing idle meant one fighter the less for Eng- 
land, and his heart was heavy at thought of 
the needs of a mother who had no bread for 
herself or her child. 

At this moment Jack came into the room 
with a pitcher of water. He went straight to 
the man, and kneeling, offered him a drink ; 
for one look from man to boy had made 
Jack know that he was in the presence of his 
king, Alfred the Great. 

Do not ask how the boy knew. No one 



■PIP 






«r*r 


50 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

be told in this story. Alfred the Great also 
knew that J ack would soon be a hero, though 
neither king nor boy spoke a word of these 
things. The king took a little hatchet from 
the folds of his cloak and put it into Jack’s 
hand. The hatchet was a strong one, having 
a double blade like the battle-ax. The handle 
was of oak, painted blood-red. 

Jack’s mother would have taken the hatchet 
from the boy for fear of his hurting himself 
with such a sharp and shining plaything, but 
one kingly glance from the blue eyes of her 
visitor made her know also that Alfred the 
Great, her hunted king, stood before her. 
She well knew her country’s needs, and she 
was a loyal subject of the king of the West 
Saxons ; so she took the battle-ax with which 
her long-lost husband had fought, and helped 
the king conceal it under his ragged cloak. 

The king then went his way, — history tells 



JACK AND THE BEANSTALK 51 

you to what lonely spot. Legend and fairy 
tale now go on with the story of Jack and 
his little red hatchet. 

The next day Jack took his hatchet and 
went to hunt for roots, berries, or anything 
he could find for his mother to eat. A man 
whom he met asked to buy the hatchet with 
handle of oak painted blood-red, but Jack 
would take neither gold nor silver for the 
king’s gift, nor was he such a dolt as to boast 
that the king had been in his mother’s house. 

The man called him a silly loon, but Jack 
went happily onward. As he walked away 
from the man he saw a little thing shining 
in his path. In the sunlight it glowed pale 
green, rose and flame color, like an opal, but 
when Jack picked it up and shaded it in 
the palm of his hand, it was only a white 
bean, all speckled with pink. Jack tucked 
it in his belt and went forward. 



52 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

He had not gone far when he met another 
man who said he would give Jack a fish for 
the hatchet with handle of oak painted blood- 
red. Good as the food smelled to the hungry 
boy, something within him told him to turn 
his back upon this temptation also. He 
therefore answered the man, saying, " I will 
not sell my hatchet.” 

At that moment he saw two glittering little 
things right by his toes. These he picked up, 
and they shone in the palm of his hand like 
opals ; but when the man commanded him 
to show what he had found, and Jack held 
out his open hand, there was nothing in it 
but two white beans, all speckled with pink. 
The man thought them worthless, but Jack 
tucked them in his belt with the one already 
hidden there, and started home to show them 
to his mother. 

On the way he met an old woman with a 



<■ 


«C-T 




54 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

heavy bundle on her back. The woman saw 
the hatchet as soon as she saw the boy, and 
she asked Jack to sell it to her. Jack answered 
as before, " I will not sell my hatchet.” 

The woman showed him gold pieces, bread, 
and even a tunic with a red leather belt, all 
of which she would give him for the hatchet 
with its keen blade and handle of oak painted 
blood-red. But Jack said again, " I will not 
sell my hatchet.” 

Now the woman was glad in her heart that 
Jack would not sell the hatchet, for you must 
know, as Jack did not, that the old woman 
was a fairy. She took from a long pocket a 
handful of white beans all speckled with pink, 
and gave them to J ack, who thanked her and 
started to run home, but the fairy called, 
" Stop!” 

Jack stopped, half afraid she might, after all, 
claim his hatchet, but she only looked kindly 



JACK AND THE BEANSTALK 55 

at him, and said: "Tell your mother each 
bean I gave you will make a whole kettle of 
soup. And, Jack; be sure you plant the 
beans that are in your belt, first sprinkling 
them with water from the river Itchin. Use 
the pitcher from which the king drank.” 

Jack knew now that the woman was a 
fairy, so he made her a very low bow, but 
when he looked up there was nobody in 
sight. He was not long in going home to 
tell his mother that a fairy had talked with 
him. His mother made a rich soup from one 
of the beans from the fairy’s pocket, and 
when the sun was setting, Jack sprinkled the 
three beans as he had been told and put 
them in the ground beside the door. 

Next morning he looked at the beans as 
soon as he was up, but they had grown so 
high he could not see the top leaves until 
he went outside of the house. In one night 





HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 


the three beans had grown up to the very 
top of the door. 

On the second morning Jack found the 
beanstalks had grown crisscross, making a 
stout ladder up to the wind door under the 
eaves. The third morning at sunrise, when 
J ack went out to look at his beans, he had to 
climb the beanstalk ladder to find the very 
top leaves, which were above the ridge pole 
of the house. When he came down his 
mother had another breakfast made from 
one of the fairy’s magic beans. After eating, 
Jack said, " I wish I could give the king a 
pitcher of this wonderful soup.” 

But his mother said, " Alas ! no man in 
Essex, Sussex, or Wessex knows where to 
find our king.” 

Jack answered, " I can find and serve him.” 

So Jack took the little hatchet with handle 
of oak painted blood-red, and shouted, 


JACK AND THE BEANSTALK 


57 


" Hitchety hatchety, my little red hatchet, 

Hitch at my breeches and up I go.” 

And with the words he was at the very top 
of the house. Here he found the beanstalk 
ladder twisted into a solid trunk not easy to 
climb, but he dug his toes into the bark and 
hugged the rough trunk with his knees, 
climbing slowly until he could just see the 
lowest branches. 

It was sunset now, and Jack made haste 
to go down and tell his mother what he had 
seen. 

The next morning at sunrise Jack bade 
his mother good-by, saying he did not know 
when he would come home. Taking his 
hatchet, he sprang into the thicket of leaves, 
saying, 

" Hitchety hatchety, my little red hatchet, 

Hitch at my breeches and up I go.” 

He could climb faster than at first, for he 



58 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

found that his toes had made very good 
stepping places in the trunk. When he 
reached the lowest branches he sat down 
upon one and looked abroad. There was 
the dear river Itchin, and farther away the 
queer river Test. There were the gnarled 
oak trees ; there were the smooth beech 
trees, and far away a little island of solid 
earth among the bogs. From that island 
flashed a glint of battle-axes. 

Jack sprang to his feet, looked up at the 
still growing beanstalk, and again climbed, 
singing, 

" Hitchety hatchety, my little red hatchet, 

Hitch at my breeches and up I go.” 

It was hard climbing now. Many times Jack 
had to hew off thick branches to make a 
foothold. When he felt a bit dizzy, a flash 
from one battle-ax far away on the island 
among the bogs would set his feet steady, 



P*M&. 


; 


jun . y 

fm ii 


J 

Jr / ; If] 


1 

p’/ >T//k 


v-* /••'• ! 






60 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

bring his hand to his hatchet, and his thoughts 
to his task, which he now felt would be long 
as well as hard. 

At about noontime the branches suddenly 
opened, the beanstalk slid from under his 
feet, the world below was suddenly lost to 
his sight, and Jack stood in a strange land. 
He was not the boy to sit down and cry 
with fright, however, nor to run about like 
an ant. He looked for some landmark by 
which he might come back to the same spot, 
but there was nothing in sight except desert 
around and clear blue sky above. 

So he grasped the hatchet, glad it had not 
gone with the beanstalk, and went bravely 
forward, whistling, 

" Hitchety hatchety, my little red hatchet, 

Hitch at my breeches and on I go.” 

Something happened then. Out of the air, 
or up from the sand, or down from the clouds, 



JACK AND THE BEANSTALK 6 1 

— nobody knows which, — there came a young 
woman carrying a wand of snowy whiteness. 
On the wand a little peacock of pure gold was 
perched. The woman smiled at Jack in a 
friendly way and asked, " From whence do 
you come, Master Jack, with your little red 
hatchet ? ” 

" I climbed the beanstalk,” answered Jack. 

"You do not answer me,” said the woman, 
frowning now. " I asked not how, but whence, 
you came.” 

Jack was frightened by the stern voice 
and keen look of the woman, but he boldly 
answered, " I came from Wessex.” 

At this truthful reply the woman smiled 
again, the wand glistened, the peacock shook 
his feathers of gold, and Jack knew that it 
was another fairy in his path. 

" Did your father say you might climb the 
beanstalk ? ” asked the fairy. 




62 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

" I climbed the beanstalk to find my 
father and to serve my king,” Jack made 
answer. " Can you tell me about my father ? 
My mother cries every time I ask where he 
is. She will not speak to me of him.” 

The fairy was charmed to have Jack tell 
her so freely why he had climbed the bean- 
stalk. To be sure, she knew before he told 
her, and she knew many other things about 
Jack, some of which neither you nor I know. 

" I will tell you, and I will help you in this 
strange country. But you must first promise 
to do exactly as I bid.” 

Jack gripped his little red hatchet and 
made the promise. Then the fairy told him 
this story. 

"Your father was a rich man who was 
kind to the poor and faithful to his king. 
One day a giant, at the head of a band of 



JACK AND THE BEANSTALK 63 

The giant would have killed you, but to save 
your life your parents gave the giant all the 
gold and silver which was hidden in the 
house. The next day the giant came to 
make another search of the place, to see if 
your mother had kept back any treasure. 
He found a single jewel which your mother 
had hoped to keep. This he took from her, 
and frightened her into making a promise 
that she would never tell you anything about 
your father or your king. 

" Now listen to every word I say. You 
are in that giant’s country. If he catches 
you, he will kill and eat you at one mouth- 
ful. You are the only one in all the world 
who can rid the earth of this evil giant and 
put a stop to his wicked deeds. You must 
take many risks. Keep your wits about you. 
Do not talk of what you are going to do ; 
tell no one of your plans. The road to the 





64 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

giant’s castle is before you. All he has 
belongs to your father and to the king. 
Your father is in prison, not far from where 
you stand. Obey me. Go ! ” 

At these words the fairy was gone, whether 
through the air, or down into the sand, or 
away behind the clouds, Jack could not see. 
She slipped from sight as the beanstalk had 
slipped from under his feet. 

Jack did not stand idly looking for her. 
There was a giant to be fought, and his 
father to be set free. He must neither sing 
nor whistle now. He put the hatchet under 
his tunic and walked forward. It was midday 
and Jack had tasted neither food nor drink 
since sunrise. He walked on until the sun set. 

It was nearly dark before he saw anything 
but the sandy road lying before him, and the 
now cloudless sky arched above him. Once 
he looked back. No road nor footprint marked 


JACK AND THE BEANSTALK 65 

the way he had passed, although the road 
stretched miles and miles ahead of him. 
Jack was weary, footsore, hungry, and burn- 
ing with thirst. He thought that now even 
the door of the giant’s castle would be a 
welcome sight. 

No sooner had he said this to himself than 
the dim outline of a castle loomed in the 
distance. Behind it the clouds hung dark 
and copper-colored, but as Jack walked faster 
and faster the clouds grew redder and redder, 
until suddenly the whole gloomy building 
stood out before him, like a solid rock in 
billows of blood. 

Jack hurried to the only door in sight. 
A woman came out to meet him, and before 
he could speak she said : " Run ! Run for 
your life! My husband is a bloodthirsty giant 
and he will eat you. Run ! ” 

Tired and hungry as he was, Jack had no 



66 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

mind to run away, now that he was at the 
very door of the giant he had come to fight. 
The woman had never before seen any one 
who did not run when she spoke of her 
giant husband. But then she had never 
before seen an English boy. She was glad 
to find some one who did not show fear, and 
her heart warmed toward Jack, whom she 
bade follow her and do whatever she said. 

They went through many large rooms, all 
hung with skins of beasts, boar’s heads, and 
men’s skulls. There were piles of glistering 
bones that rattled and clattered when the 
woman stepped on loose boards. It was a 
fearsome place. They passed through a nar- 
row hall with stone bars on either side, and 
in the dim light Jack saw the face of one 
prisoner behind those bars, — one among 
many, — but he knew it was the face of his 
father. The woman stopped a moment to 



JACK AND THE BEANSTALK 


clear their path, and Jack opened his tunic 
so that the prisoners saw the gleam of the 
hatchet, and their groans were hushed for an 
instant. The woman was frightened by the 
sudden stillness, and she looked sharply at 
Jack, but he was watching her, and neither 
of them spoke until they reached the kitchen. 

The smell of food brought back the boy’s 
pluck. Truth to tell, the sights and sounds 
of that gruesome place had made him sick. 
The woman gave him bread, and meat hot 
from the oven. While he was eating there 
came a loud knocking and pounding in the 
hall of the stone bars. From that hall came 
cries and groans as the giant thrust a heavy 
crowbar between the gratings, striking every 
one who could not crowd back out of his 
reach. The giant’s wife hustled Jack into 
one of the cold ovens, and shut the door just 
as the giant came stamping in. 



68 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

Jack heard him roar : " I smell fresh meat ! 
Fetch me fresh meat!” 

The giant’s wife answered, all in a tremble 
of fright : " Y es, yes ; I smell fresh meat, too. 
Here it is. I heard you coming.” 

The giant sat down where Jack could just 
see him through a crack in the oven door. 
It was well for the boy that he had eaten a 
good supper, for the sight of the uncouth 
wretch at his foul feast made Jack feel weak 
and sick. The grisly hulk swilled wine and 
swallowed whole chunks of meat without 
choking. He ate the best part of a bony 
goose, feathers and all. At last a half-starved 
man was found at the bottom of the pile of 
food. The poor fellow was too nearly dead to 
know what was being done with him. The 
giant gloated over this human flesh, cracked 
some of the bones in his teeth, and licked 
his bloody lips like a hungry tiger. 



JACK AND THE BEANSTALK 69 

Poor Jack was in a hurry to put an end to 
such frightful doings, but he knew he could 
not fight the giant hand to hand. As he 
was thinking of this, the giant yelled to his 
wife, who came at once. 

" Fetch me my little hen,” he growled. 

The woman brought in a little red hen, set- 
ting her on the table. The hen squatted on the 
table, her very beak standing open in stupid 
fear of the giant, who roared, “ Lay ! lay ! ” 

Every time he spoke she laid an egg of 
pure gold. At last the giant fell asleep, 
fumbling the eggs with his stumpy fingers. 
When he began to snore so loud that the 
eggs rolled around on the table, the hen 
flew down and cowered by the oven door. 
Jack came out of the oven, put the frightened 
hen in his bosom, and, running from the 
house, leaped into the top of the beanstalk 
as soon as the castle door swung shut. 





70 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

Now you need not be surprised that Jack 
found the beanstalk at the door, for you must 
remember that this was in a magic country, 
and that the beanstalk had grown from 
magic beans. How gladly he sped down its 
branches to the bare trunk, then down to 
the ladder, and into his mother’s house ! 

He found his mother crying bitterly, for 
she thought her boy was lost. Her crying 
turned to laughter when she caught sight of 
the lad, and a merry hour they spent, when 
Jack took the little hen from his bosom and 
fed her. She rubbed her beak against Jack’s 
face, and laid golden eggs without being 
bidden. 

Next morning Jack left the pretty hen 
with his mother, and again climbed the bean- 
stalk, singing, 

" Hitchety hatchety, my little red hatchet, 

Hitch at my breeches and up I go.” 



JACK AND THE BEANSTALK 71 

This time when he reached the lowest 
branches of the beanstalk he ran out on one, 
and looking off toward the island among the 
bogs, he saw the gleaming of many battle-axes. 
His heart leaped again with the hope of set- 
ting his father free to fight for his country 
and the good King Alfred. 

But Jack was fast learning to do things 
without wasting time in cobweb plans, so on 
he went to the top of the beanstalk, where 
he found the giant’s castle within a stone’s 
throw. Jack feared the woman would give 
him up to the giant if she knew him at 
once, for doubtless she had been punished 
for- the loss of the hen. Looking about for 
some disguise, he saw a tuft of tender oak 
leaves, red and velvety. He rubbed his face 
with them until he was as red as a little In- 
dian. He put one arm inside of his tunic, so 
he looked as if he were a cripple. He tied his 



72 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

fair hair in a bunch with strips of willow 
bark, and tucked it inside his bonnet, and 
went limping to the castle door. 

The giant’s wife was there, and Jack was 
again told to run for his life; but, just as 
before, he begged for food. The woman said 
she dared not give anything to anybody, 
much less admit a stranger, because her hus- 
band was in a storm of anger on account of 
losing his red hen. She then told Jack how 
she had befriended a boy and lost the hen, for 
which offense her husband would surely kill 
her if he caught her talking with a stranger. 

Jack told her not to fear the giant, for he 
had come back to save her ; and uncovering 
his head, he took off the bands, letting his 
fair hair fall free, and she knew him to be a 
friend. Now the giant’s wife was the most 
unhappy of all his prisoners. She was glad 
indeed to hear even a young lad speak so 


73 



JACK AND THE BEANSTALK 73 

boldly in her defense. Once more she led 
the way to the kitchen, and brought out 
some of the best food in the house. 

Jack had not tasted a mouthful when the 
walls began to shake and the floors to creak 
under the tread of the furious giant. The 
woman thrust Jack into a cupboard and 
shut the door with a bang just as the giant 
staggered into the room. Again Jack heard 
that thundering voice : " I smell fresh meat. 
Fetch me fresh meat.” 

The woman made haste to fetch freshly 
killed pigs, calves, and sheep to the table. 
The giant had been drinking so much wine 
that he had eaten only the broken parts of 
the raw meat, when he fell asleep. There he 
sprawled on the table, his matted hair tum- 
bling into the mess of bristles and blood, his 
thick lips smeared with grease, his foul face 
swollen and uncouth. It was such a loathsome 


74 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

sight that Jack, unable to endure it, turned 
his head to one side, hitting a dish which 
clattered down with a noise that awoke 
the giant at once. Thinking his wife had 
broken a plate, he tried to get up to beat 
her, but was too heavy with wine, so he 
threw a boar’s head at her, swearing he would 
kill her before morning. 

At this threat the woman ran from the 
room, but the giant yelled : " Fetch me my 
moneybags ! Fetch me my moneybags ! ” 

The moneybags were dragged into the 
room. The sight of glittering gold pieces 
roused the giant so that he spent half of the 
night gloating over his hoard. First a bag of 
silver pieces was emptied on the table. These 
the giant fingered and put back. Then he 
put his hands into a bag of gold and jingled 
the coins, letting them slip slowly through 
his greasy fingers. At last he took a small 



JACK AND THE BEANSTALK 75 

bag out of one of the large ones and emptied 
the shining coins into a wooden trencher, 
and fell asleep while looking at them. 

Now was Jack’s chance to escape with 
some of the money which belonged to his 
father and other victims of the monster’s 
rapacity. The giant snored like a wild beast. 
Jack crept from the cupboard, but a little 
dog ran from under the table, barking like a 
fox. Jack had the presence of mind to throw 
a piece of meat on the floor. The dog, like 
all of the giant’s household, was half starved, 
and he ran off with the meat, making no 
more noise. 

The giant was so sound asleep that Jack 
had no trouble in getting one of the smaller 
bags of gold, with which he fled to the bean- 
stalk, and was soon once more at home. 
This time Jack found his mother very ill 
with a fever, but when she saw her boy 






7 6 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

unhurt she got up from her bed and cooked 
a good breakfast for him. Jack showed her 
the gold, and told her how he had secured it. 
He also promised to tell her very soon the 
whole story of his beanstalk journeys. She 
trusted to his honor, and did not vex him 
with questions. 

The third morning Jack again sang, 

" Hitchety hatchety, my little red hatchet, 

Hitch at my breeches and up I go.” 

He found the climbing of the beanstalk 
easier than ever before. At the door of the 
castle he was again met by the giant’s wife, 
who let him in this time without any ado. 
She was lame and sore from the cruel beating 
the giant had given her when he awoke and 
missed one of the moneybags. She led Jack 
to the kitchen, but before they could say a 
word the giant came pounding into the hall. 







Cl 


78 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

kettle. The woman dropped the lid over him 
just in time to face her husband and hear the 
well-known howl’: " I smell fresh meat. Fetch 
me some fresh meat.” 

The giant ate just as he had eaten before, 
and when his maw was crammed with food 
he yelled to his wife, " Bring me my harp ! ” 

Jack threw off the lid of the kettle and saw 
a little harp made of ivory and gold, with 
strings of silver. The harp began playing 
the sweetest music ever heard, but not a 
finger was touching the silver chords. 

The giant fell asleep, as he always did 
after eating, and Jack crept out of the kettle. 
He took the harp, which kept on playing, 
and told the giant’s wife to go before him 
out of the house. She went without a word, 
walking on tiptoe. The beanstalk lifted its 
top branches just outside of the door. The 
woman took a step down, and J ack was 





JACK AND THE BEANSTALK 


79 


about to follow her when the giant came out, 
howling with rage because of his lost harp. 

Jack bade the woman make haste to the 
lowest branch, and wait there for him. Then 
he faced the giant and backed down the 
beanstalk, the harp slung over his shoulder. 
The giant was still sleepy and uncertain of 
his footing. Jack stepped nimbly from one 
branch to the other, daring the giant to 
follow him. 

The monster was clumsy, and so enraged 
that he stumbled among the branches; but 
for all that, he was several times dangerously 
near the lad. Now Jack's wits had been 
working as nimbly as his feet, and when he 
came to a very long branch he ran out to its 
tip. The giant followed, roaring and snarling. 

Jack stood on the end of the branch until 
the giant was almost upon him ; then he 
dropped to the branch below and scrambled 




8o HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 


back to the body of the beanstalk. Before 
the giant could turn around to crawl back 
Jack chopped the branch from the trunk 
with his little red hatchet, and down went 
the giant, clinging to the branch. 

Jack waited to see what would happen. 
The giant fell with a great thud into the 
Wessex bogs. The bogs opened under the 
weight of the hideous creature, the ooze 
sucked him down, down, down, — and nobody 
has seen him since. 

Knowing that the giant was forever out 
of the way, Jack went down the beanstalk to 
find the creature’s wife. She, too, had seen 
the fall of the tyrant, and was quite ready to 
return to the castle with Jack, her deliverer. 
They made haste to break bars and undo 
bolts, setting free scores of men and women 
who had given up all hope of escape. 

Jack’s father knew his own son, even as 



if \x mm 


iff M ! fp*| 


i 1 Sf if f 






82 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

Jack had known the great king, and together 
they planned a wonderful deed. The giant’s 
wife not only led them to all the hidden and 
ill-gotten wealth in the castle, but urged the 
prisoners to help Jack in taking it away. 

When the men were all set free and had 
been given a feast, they followed Jack and 
his father to the lonely island among the 
bogs, and placed themselves at the service 
of good King Alfred. 

Meanwhile the giant’s wife went to Jack’s 
mother and helped her to prepare a great 
festival in honor of England’s Darling. The 
little red hen set about laying golden eggs 
until there was an egg of the precious metal 
for every man who followed the king. 

The gold in the moneybags was freely 
spent for the feast to be spread when the 
king and his brave followers should arrive. 
For days Jack’s mother and the giant’s wife 



JACK AND THE BEANSTALK 


were the proudest and busiest women be- 
tween Lands End and Cheviot Hills. 

And when Jack came at the head of the 
troop, his harp playing martial music, he was 
the happiest lad in Wessex. Jack’s father, 
with his own battle-ax once more in his 
hands, was the happiest man in Essex or 
Sussex, while good King Alfred, with all 
these loyal men to do his bidding, was with- 
out doubt the happiest monarch in all the 
world. 

" What became of the beanstalk ? ” 

I can only say in reply that I believe it is 
still growing in its own dear Fairyland. 



A 


































. 























TOM THUMB 


PART I 

Several hundred years ago a little storybook was sold 
in the streets of London for a penny. The story was told 
in rhyme, just as it had grown. Some time in 1600 
Richard Johnson, a learned man, turned the verses into 
prose, saying of them : 

The ancient tales of Tom Thumb in the olde time have beene 
the only revivers of drowzy age at midnight; old and young 
have with the tales chimed mattins till the cock’s crow in the 
morning ; batchellors and maidens with his tales have compassed 
the Christmas fire blocks till the curfew bell rings candles out. 
The shepherd and the young plowboy, after their days labor, 
have caroled out a tale of Tom Thumb to make them merry 
with ; and who but little Tom hath made long nights seem short, 
and heavy toyles easy ? 

Using such spelling as the children learn to-day, and 
taking the prose or the verse, as best suits our times, we 
" tell it again.” 

Once upon a time an old couple, having no 

child, made pets of the animals on their farm. 

85 


86 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

At last the man paid a visit to a great en- 
chanter named Merlin, to beg that he would 
send a child to him and his wife. The en- 
chanter seemed to doubt his power, but the 
plowman begged so piteously, and promised 
such love and care of the child, that Merlin 
told him to wait outside the cave for an 
answer. The man knelt upon a tussock of 
moss and prayed, while Merlin went into his 
magic cave to work a charm. 

In an hour Merlin came out, wrapped in a 
cloudlike cloak, and asked the plowman if he 
was still of the same mind about a child. The 
plowman said, " Do, I pray, give us a child — 
even if he shall be no bigger than my thumb.” 
Then Merlin knew the hearts of the old 
people were set upon having a child in their 
home, and he waved his wand. The plow- 
man saw a rosy, shining mist all about, and 
heard a low but very sweet voice say: 






rr,! 









88 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 


"No blood nor bones in him shall be, 

His shape it being such 
That you may hear him speak, but not 
His wandering shadow touch.” 

The plowman hurried home to tell his wife 
what the good enchanter had promised. His 
wife met him at the door, holding the half of 
a walnut shell in her hand. In the shell, upon 
a bit of whitest wool, lay the promised baby. 

In half an hour he had his full growth, 
which was the exact size of the plowman’s 
thumb. He was really a fairy child, and so 
the Queen of the Fairies named him, as the 
verse tells: 

Tom Thumb, the which the Fairy Queen 
Did give him for his name, 

Who with her train of goblins grim 
Unto the christening came. 

It was no small task to take care of a boy 
no bigger than a man’s thumb. He ate so 


TOM THUMB 


89 

little that a drop of milk had to be divided 
and put to his lips on a feather. Other chil- 
dren hunted the fields for such feathers as 
the wild birds shed, so that baby Tom had a 
fresh one every time he was given his milk. 

To dress such a small boy was fun for his 
mother. When he was strong enough to play 
out of doors with the little boys who had the 
pleasure of his acquaintance, the story de- 
scribes what he wore : a hat from a young 
oak leaf, downy and crimson as baby oak 
leaves are, shaded Tom like an umbrella. 
Helped by the fairies and the children, 
his mother gathered strands of spider web 
that held the rainbow colors which may be 
seen when the sun shines on them. From 
these she wove small hose and tiny doublets 
that were almost as light as soap bubbles, 
for Tom Thumb did not have strength to 
bear the weight of common clothes. 


90 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

One playmate brought the thin rind of a 
beautiful green apple, from which stockings 
were made. Tom’s father caught a little 
white-bellied ’field mouse and tanned its skin, 
from which shoes were made. When Tom 
was dressed in these pretty garments and 
started out to play, his stockings came down, 
for garters had been forgotten. Tom Thumb 
danced up and down with impatience to be 
off for the game of cherry stones, and his 
mother laughed at his plight. But she did 
not tease the child by laughing, although the 
tears ran down her cheeks. As she wiped 
her eyes an eyelash fell from her lid, and 
with it she tied up one stocking. Of course 
she plucked another lash, and in a gliff Tom 
was tidy for play. 

I am sorry the story relates that Tom did 
not play fair in this game of cherry stones. 

He crawled into the other boys’ pockets 


TOM THUMB 


91 


and took out cherry stones which he pre- 
tended to win in the game. His mother 
wished him to be honest in soul, no matter 
how little he was in body, so she kept him 
in the house many days for punishment. 

During one of these days the good mother 
was making a pudding, and Tom Thumb 
climbed up on the edge of the bowl to see 
the batter. Soon he lost his balance and fell 
into the pudding, where he would have been 
drowned but for Merlin’s gift of safety from 
such harm. His mother was so used to his 
tricks of hiding that she did not notice his 
being in the pudding, along with the plums 
and other good things. So Tom paddled 
about in the batter, and even let his mother 
put him into the pudding bag, and drop him 
into the kettle to boil. 

Now, although Tom could not have been 
hurt, even by boiling water, he had had fun 


92 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

enough; so he made the pudding roll over 
and over, while he whistled and shouted until 
his mother thought the pudding was surely 
bewitched. She would not take the risk of a 
bewitched pudding on her table, and as the 
tinker was just then passing, she gave the 
dainty dish to him. Here Tom saw his chance 
to get out of doors to play, so he kept very 
quiet until the tinker was out in the yard. 
Then he began squeaking and squealing 
and bouncing the pudding about until the 
tinker was so scared that he threw it into the 
hedge and ran for home as if all the widgeons 
of Britain had turned to spooks and were at 
his heels. 

When the tinker was out of sight Tom 
crept from the pudding bag and bathed him- 
self in a pool of warm water. His bathtub 
was the hollow in a stone which held several 
spoonfuls of raindrops. Such a little warm 



94 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

pool would have tempted any mite of a boy 
or sprite to wade and splash around. 

When Tom had waded and splashed to his 
heart’s content, he sat down upon a cushion 
of velvety cup moss, and remained until his 
clothes were dry. Then he coaxed a dragon 
fly to give him a ride up in the air. The 
dragon fly sailed around with Tom on his 
back until the boy wanted a drink, when he 
was let to crawl off and quench his thirst at 
a dewdrop which had hung on a blade of 
grass all day in a deep shade. 

Tom had no mind to weary himself with 
walking from the hedge to his home, so he 
asked a black beetle to carry him on his 
horny back. By the kindness of the beetle 
Tom reached home at milking time. His 
mother was just going out to the cow yard ; 
so to make sure she should not lose her boy 
again that day, she took him with her and 


TOM THUMB 


95 

tied him to a thistle stalk. Tom did not mind 
being tethered to a thistle stalk. Indeed, he 
thought it quite rare sport for a time. His 
mother began the milking, and thinking her 
boy was safe, quite forgot him in watching 
the foam increase in the pail and listening to 
the singing, hissing streams as they made little 
whirlpools in white bubbles of rich milk. 

The cow stood chewing her cud and gaz- 
ing at the herd some distance away, now 
and then flapping an ear and saying, " Moo, 
moo,” away down in her throat, so softly 
that the little voice was scarcely audible to 
Tom’s mother. Lazily, too, the gentle creature 
lashed her tail from side to side, now and 
then giving it a seemingly angry sweep as 
some fly or gnat teased her. Once she flung 
the heavy, wet brush around in such a way as 
to strike her mistress a swashing blow full in 
the face, which would have greatly vexed the 


96 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

woman had she not been more patient than 
most milkers, and felt so great an affection 
for the sleek animal. This cow had been 
one of her favorite pets before Tom came 
to be the greatest, albeit the most canty 
and winsome one that ever frolicked about 
a mother’s feet. 

"So-o-o, s-o-o, now, bossy!” cautioned Tom’s 
mother. "Ye must e’en be more careful wi’ 
that great flail o’ a tail ye have.” But just 
then something happened to frighten the 
cow, and she kicked out savagely at a little 
dog that came running and barking past her 
heels. Perhaps, too, Tom vexed her by some 
of his antics on the thistle, where he had been 
playing that he was a sailor sent aloft to do 
some feat of daring at the top of the tall mast 
of a great green ship. 

The rapidly descending streams of milk, 
hurled into the ever-thickening foam by the 


TOM THUMB 


97 


strong, skilled hands of Tom’s mother, who 
took delight in seeing how far within the bil- 
lowy mass she could make each stream pierce, 
had at last heaped it up far above the bucket 
brim. 

Tom had noticed that, and was playfully 
naming it a snow mountain, when, as the cow 
kicked, the milk listed to one side and down 
went the foam, pouring, or rather tumbling, 
to the ground. Tom said to himself, "That 
was a big snowslide, was n’t it ? ” 

The kick that spilled the foam well-nigh 
unseated Tom’s mother from her milking 
stool, a crude piece of gear with only one leg 
which had been stuck into an auger hole in 
the middle of the seat, or as near the middle 
as the plowman could fix it. This accident 
came near spilling all of the milk, and Mis- 
tress Cow would no doubt have got a good 
scolding this time, had not another happening 


98 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

suddenly claimed all the attention of Tom’s 
mother, Tom, and the cow. Tom had been 
climbing and leaping about the thistle stalk 
and its branches, now hanging to one of them 
by his toes and making faces at the cow, 
now skinning the cat, now creeping to the 
very end of the branch nearest his mother, to 
watch her and the foaming milk. He had at 
last gained the top of the stalk and stood on 
his head in the purple crown of a blossom, 
getting his face well powdered with pollen. 
Then he plucked some feathery parts of 
the flower and placed them in the brim of his 
jimp oak-leaf hat. Then, holding one of the 
smallest leaves in front of him for a shield 
and waving a big thistle thorn for a sword, he 
dared a clumsy, yellow, fuzzy, funny bumble- 
bee to mortal combat. But the bumblebee 
was too busy stuffing pollen into his leg 
pockets to take much notice of his foeman. 


TOM THUMB 


99 


Finally, trying to avoid a thrust from the 
sword, or perhaps startled by the barking 
of the little dog, he tumbled, broadside and 
buzzing, into the bright green grass. 

Tom leaned far over on his perch to taunt 
the bumblebee with being a coward, but 
the difficulty of his foothold and perhaps a 
naughty word in his throat caused him to halt 
and stammer. He had just hooted, " Cow, cow, 
cow ! ” when the sweet smell of the thistle and 
the mention of her name, it may be, caused 
the cow, with one sweep of her long rough 
tongue, to force thistle, Tom and all, into her 
soft, wet mouth. Then Tom bawled out: "Oh, 
cow! cow! cow! Oh, mother! mother! mother!” 
Lucky and thrice lucky was it for him that 
just then the cow swallowed her cud without 
waiting to chew the thistle, else right here 
our story might have ended. 

The cow lapped a little at the grass and 


IOO HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

lay down to chew her cud. Tom’s mother 
well knew what would happen. Tom and the 
grass and the thistle would all come up to- 
gether for a fresh chewing. So she took her 
milking stool and sat down close to the cow’s 
head and waited. She saw when the bunch 
of feed came slowly up under the soft, hairy 
skin of the creature’s throat, and when it was 
in the cow’s mouth she put in her hand and 
snatched the little fellow out. Of course he had 
lost his hat and sword and oak-leaf shield, but, 
boylike, he squirmed and shouted, " Where ’s 
that bumblebee ? ” 

His mother carried him home in her apron, 
and told his father why she had been so long 
milking. Tom sat on his father’s hand and 
told how he had scared a bumblebee. 

One time Tom went to the field to see his 
father plow. He soon grew tired of riding on 


TOM THUMB 


IOI 


the plowman’s shoulder, and begged to drive 
the oxen instead. So he was given a barley 
straw for a whip and set safely between the 
horns of the greatest ox. If the oxen could 
have heard Tom’s little voice as he shouted 
" Gee ! gee-ho ! ” or if they could have felt the 
lashing of his barley-straw whip, they would 
have been goaded to madness ; but they plod- 
ded slowly along to the end of a furrow, 
knowing nothing about their small driver. 
When they stopped to rest, the ox Tom 
was riding bent his head to crop some 
grass, and Tom slid down a smooth horn 
to the ground. 

After his long ride Tom felt the need of 
using his legs, and, like any other boy, he 
capered about on the sweet-smelling ground, 
turning somersaults, walking on his hands, 
and standing on his head. A hungry raven, 
flying half a mile high, saw the tiny moving 


102 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

thing and smelled the mouse-skin shoes. 
Thinking, " There ’s a young mole for my 
dinner,” down he swooped, picked Tom up 
by the heel, and away he flew: Tom happened 
to have his barley-straw whip, with which he 
tickled the raven’s ear until the bird dropped 
him. The raven chanced to be flying over 
a giant’s castle when he dropped Tom, who 
fell into the open mouth of the sleeping giant. 

Now Tom rather liked adventures, but he 
did not wish to explore a giant’s stomach, so 
he lodged in his throat, tickling his palate 
and scratching his tongue until the giant fell 
into such a fit of coughing and sneezing that 
Tom was thrown into the sea, which came 
close to the castle wall. 

Tom could swim, and was glad of a salt- 
water bath at this moment. Having dived 
and soused until tired, he turned on his back 
and floated. A fish took him for a dainty 


TOM THUMB 


103 

morsel and swallowed him, oak-leaf hat, 
spider-web shirt, garters, shoes and all. 

" This is a pretty kettle of fish,” laughed 
Tom ; but he had no time to plan an escape 
before the fish was caught, and Tom was 
released by the cook, who was preparing the 
king’s dinner. 

" Let me garnish the platter! ” cried Tom. 
So, balancing himself on the dish, he was 
placed before the king. 

" What have we here ? ” gayly asked King 
Arthur as Tom removed his hat, knelt before 
his king, and threw a kiss to the lovely queen. 
Tom answered with the reverence due his 
king, " Your Majesty, I am the smallest 
but most loyal subject in the realm.” 

The fish stood untasted while the com- 
pany was amused by the sprightly wit of 
this welcome but unexpected guest. The 
ancient verses tell that: 


104 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

Among the deeds of courtship done, 

His highness did command 

That he should dance a galliard brave 

Upon the queen’s right hand. 

All which he did, and for the same 
Our king his signet gave, 

Which Tom about his middle wore 
Long time, a girdle brave. 

Behold it was' a rich reward, 

And given by the king, 

Which to his praise and worthiness 
Did lasting honor bring. 

Would Tom forget his father and mother, 
the cow and the oxen, in the pleasures of the 
court? We shall see. He became a favorite 
of the king and no knightly joust was complete 
unless Tom was there to dance and play. He 
was the special pet of the queen, and would 
leap from one of her hands to the other, never 
forgetting the courtesy of an uncovered head 






106 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 


in her presence. The king so loved the little 
fellow that he wanted him on his saddlebow 
whenever he rode. The story tells in quaint 
old verse about one of these rides : 

But on a time, whenas it rained, 

Tom Thumb most nimbly crept 
Into his buttonhole, where he 
All in his bosom slept. 

And being near his Highness’ heart, 

Did crave a wealthy boon, 

A noble gift, the which the king 
Commanded should be done. 

Now if Tom had asked for a little crown 
just like the king’s or a string of pearls 
exactly like the queen’s, except in size, his 
wish would have been granted. But while 
Tom had slept in the king’s bosom he had 
dreamed of his father’s sheltering hand. 

He had always thought of his mother’s 
tender looks when the queen was smiling 


TOM THUMB 


107 


upon him, so he made bold to tell the king 
about his aged parents and the sorrow he 
knew they were in because of his absence. 
The boon he craved was permission to return 
to his humble home, with as much silver as 
he could carry. 

So then away went lusty Tom 
With threepence at his back, 

A heavy burden which did make 
His very bones to crack. 

The homesick boy traveled two days and 
nights, arriving at his own door so tired that 
he could make himself heard only by drop- 
ping his load upon the doorstone with a 
great jingle. There was joy in Tom’s home 
that night. His mother held him in her apron 
while his father bound his little, blistered feet 
in mutton tallow. He was wrapped in lamb’s 
wool, tucked into a tiny oak knot which his 
father had hollowed for a cradle, and placed 


108 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

on the stone hearth in the middle of the room, 
where he slept like a top. His parents would 
not lose sight of him, so they threw some 
sheepskins on the earthen floor, and the 
father snored on one side of the boy, while 
the mother dozed on the other side. 

They feasted Tom on hazelnuts for three 
days, and little was done but listen to stories 
of the doings at King Arthur’s court. Tom 
told of a great tournament which was to be 
held that very week, and his mother could 
see that he longed to go. 

The distance, however, was too great to 
be walked, and there was no way of riding. 
Tom’s father was quite willing his lad should 
return to the merry life and to the king’s 
household for a visit. A way for Tom to take 
the journey was found. He was put into 
the dinner horn, and one strong puff of his 
father’s breath sent him flying through the 


TOM THUMB 


109 


air, landing him on one of the furry skins 
spread out before the king’s tent. 

Tom was hailed with much noise of trum- 
pets and waving of banners, for he had been 
sadly missed. When the knights were doing 
clever feats with their swords, Tom won the 
first prize of the day by cutting a golden hair 
from the queen’s head with his little sword, 
which was no bigger than a fine needle. Of 
course it had to be done with one stroke and 
without touching the queen’s temple or even 
causing her to wince. He also rode his tiny 
horse through the queen’s bracelet without 
brushing the gold with his plume, nor was it 
touched by his horse’s hoof. 

Not long after this great tournament little 
Tom fell very ill, and although King Arthur’s 
own physician cared for him and the queen 
herself nursed him, he grew worse daily, and 
soon got so thin that the doctors had to look 


no HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

at him through a magnifying glass. His legs 
dwindled till they seemed only strands of 
spider web, and his head shriveled until his 
face was no bigger than an ant’s. 

As Merlin, the kind enchanter, knew what 
was happening to his Thumbling, he sent the 
Fairy Queen to wait for Tom’s soul. 

And with her flying nymphs in green 
She took him from his bed 
With music sweet and melody 
As soon as life was fled. 

King Arthur’s court mourned for Tom 
forty days. The king built a tomb of gray 
marble for him, and once every year the 
knights came to honor his memory. His 
parents mourned for Tom all the rest of their 
lives. They built no tomb ; they made no 
pilgrimage ; but every night when they were 
seated by the fire in the middle of the room, 
they talked together of the fairy child Merlin 


TOM THUMB 


1 1 1 


had given them. Together they laughed over 
his merry pranks and pretty ways, until at 
last he seemed to live with them again. 

To mourn for this merry child by weeping 
and wearing black clothes seemed wrong 
to his simple, loving parents. So when his 
birthdays were kept they wore their best 
clothes, and the house was decked with clover 
blossoms until the kitchen smelled as sweet 
as a field. A bowl of red clover was put on 
the table for the plowman and a bowl of 
white clover was put beside it for the plow- 
man’s wife. The dresser was adorned with 
yellow king’s clover mixed with Dutch clover 
and bird’s-foot clover, flowers which Tom 
had dearly loved. 

On one of these days of mourning the 
queen sent the old people a little ivory pic- 
ture of Tom just as he looked when dancing 
on her hand. 






PART II 

TOM COMES BACK TO EARTH 

The Fairy Queen so dearly loved little 
Tom that she made him her scepter bearer. 
Of course Tom became well and merry- 
hearted as soon as he began life in Fairy- 
land, but we have no account of his doings 
there. We are told that he was so loved in 
that world that he was given leave to come 
back to earth, which he gladly did. 

Arthur was no longer king, and all the 
knights who had known Tom were in their 
tombs. The midget met with a sad mishap 
at the very beginning of this visit to earth. 
We are told that he fell into a bowl of " fru- 
menty,” and the splash he made filled the 
cook’s eyes with the hot stuff. The cook 
dropped the bowl, which broke on the floor, 



TOM THUMB 


113 

and the king, with all his company, sat wait- 
ing and hungry. 

Now the cook was a surly fellow, who was 
always looking for evil sprites, and when he 
saw Tom sitting on a piece of the broken bowl, 
making believe that he was rowing a boat 
on a sea of frumenty, his anger was terrible. 
Tom was picked up in a wooden spoon and 
cast before the king as the wicked elf who 
had spoiled a good dinner. Then every one 
shouted that such a creature should be put 
to death. It so happened that the miller 
shouted loudest of all, opening his mouth so 
wide that Tom easily leaped down his throat. 

Once out of reach of the hands that would 
have crushed him, Tom’s spirit of fun rose. 
He whistled and sang in the miller’s stomach, 
scaring twenty learned doctors who were 
called to cure the sickness which the miller 
felt on account of such a lively lump that 


1 14 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

could not be digested. The miller was bled 
until he was weak and faint. Finally the 
doctors accused him of having done some 
wicked deed for which he was being punished, 
and the poor scared man at last confessed 
that he had sometimes taken unfair toll. 

Having confessed this, the miller jumped 
from his bed and ran to his mill to restore 
some grain to the owner’s sack. As he came 
to the stream which turned his mill wheels, 
Tom climbed the scared man’s windpipe as 
a sailor climbs a mast, and leaped out into 
the river. A salmon found Tom up near 
the North Pole, and swallowed him for a 
dainty morsel. The salmon was soon after 
caught by a fisherman and put in the 
market for sale. 

The steward of the king in this North 
Country came to buy the king’s dinner, and 
seeing the beautiful fish, asked its price. 


TOM THUMB 


1 15 

"It’s too dear,” said the steward; and 
thereupon Tom shouted, "Sir, give the 
other penny.” 

The market man and the steward stood 
as if turned to stone. Tom waited to hear 
some bargain made between them, and at 
last called out from the fish’s belly: 

" The like in all the land 
Before was never seen ; 

Present this salmon out of hand 
Unto our king and queen.” 

The salmon was given to the cook with 
orders to serve it for the king and queen, 
for it was thought to be an enchanted fish. 
This cook was of a good temper, and Tom 
presented himself with more propriety than 
in the other king’s kitchen. He was made 
welcome at court, and the king sent for his 
own tailor, to make him such fine clothes as 
a favorite knight should wear. 




1 16 


HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

His shirt was cut out of the wings 
Of a fair butterfly ; 

His breeches, coat, and other things, 

All pleasing to the eye. 


Upon his legs he likewise had 
Boots made of chicken leather ; 

Like any jolly, noble lad 

He wore his hat and feather. 

A tailor’s needle was his sword, 

His headpiece was a thimble ; 

And when he fought, upon my word 
He made the giants tremble. 

The king, with a party of noblemen, went 
to the forest one day, to hunt. Tom rode a 
white mouse instead of a horse, and in the 
excitement of chasing a wild boar, the king 
and his party lost sight of him for a moment. 
A cat caught his mouse-steed. Tom fought 
valiantly, running the cat’s ear quite through 
with his sword, but his coat was tattered like 





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1 1 8 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 


a rag, and his feather was smeared with blood. 
The hunters found him still in his saddle, 
defending his charger and himself with daunt- 
less courage. Even the bravest of Arthur’s 
knights felt some fear of attacking an angry 
cat, but their devotion to the pet of the court 
led them to face the danger, and Tom was 
released from the snarling, spitting animal 
and taken home. 

The chief physician, after calling a coun- 
cil of many doctors, told the king that the 
little court favorite was mortally wounded. 

Both far and near the tidings flew 
Of Tom’s unhappy fate, 

And learned doctors came to view 
His present dying state. 

Not one of them could do him good 
Or keep him safe from death, 

For by their skill they understood 
He ’d die for want of breath. 


TOM THUMB 


119 

A tiny box of ivory was soon lined with 
the softest of snowy down for his poor 
wounded body to rest upon. All the nobles 
and even the king wept to see how quietly 
he bore his sufferings, but Tom never made 
a moan or breathed a sigh, because he knew 
very well that this bloody path into which 
he had been thrust so suddenly would lead 
him safely back to Fairyland, where there 
would be no more pain for him. His only 
cause for sorrow was that the king and 
queen and all his brother knights had to 
be left on the earth for a time. 

When at last he left this world, thousands 
of fairy spirits stood about his couch, each 
one wearing a mourning garland of cypress, 
for they also grieved to see him so wounded. 
Some of them, with a hundred little maidens 
dressed all in white, wearing veils of filmy lace, 
went before him, leading the way through 



120 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

a path of light into the very heart of the 
fairy country. 

When Tom ceased to breathe, the quaint 
old verses tell this: 

They put him in a winding sheet 
More white than lilies fair ; 

These fairies all with music sweet 
Did mount the lofty air. 

And soon they vanished out of sight 
Up to the Fairy Queen, — 

And from this time the worthy knight 
Was never after seen. 



PART III 


TOM THUMB AND KING THUNSTON 

Tom had been such a genial little earth 
man that the world would not give him up 
to Fairyland, and when he came again he 
could not have disguised himself so that 
people would not have known him. As soon, 
therefore, as Tom stepped before the king 
a great shout of joy went up from the nobles. 
Even the steward, the cook, and the scullery 
boys threw their hats in the air and danced 
for joy. 

King Thunston ordered a feast which 
should last a whole month, and there were 
games and pageants in which Tom was the 
center of all interest. 

A little palace of gold and ivory was built 
for him by order of the king. Cunning work- 
men carved the ivory doors, which turned on 


122 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

hinges of gold. Every morning fresh curtains, 
woven of spicier webs, were hung about his 
bed. A little mother-of-pearl shell was fixed 
to the floor for his bath. Sweet wild flowers 
gave up their perfumes for his pleasure, and 
rose petals shaded the tiny windows of his 
castle. 

In truth, Tom would have been spoiled by 
all this needless show had not his father and 
mother been such sturdy folk that his early 
training was not lost in Thunston’s court. 

It took much skill to fashion a coach suited 
to Tom’s needs; but one was made from tor- 
toise shell, exquisitely carved to look like a 
Roman chariot. 

Six white mice with long tails and pink 
ears drew his coach. Once when Tom was 
driving a dreadful thunderstorm arose. Tom 
left his fragile coach open and crept into a 
huge, empty snail shell, where he stayed until 



, 4 






124 HER 0 FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 

the storm was past. His mice ran home in 
great fright, breaking the chariot into many 
pieces, and Tom rode home on a bat which 
pitied him. 

After this mishap Tom fell ill and had a 
great longing to leave his ivory castle, to find 
the hearth and shelter of his first house. He 
set out at midnight, riding a night moth which 
was guided by the scent of the old garden — 
or perhaps by the odor of his mate. 

It was well for Tom that he fell into a 
deep sleep by the way, for his heart would 
have been broken by the sight of the ruin 
into which the home of his childhood had 
fallen. The moths could not waken him when 
they got there, so they found a caterpillar 
and asked it to weave a silk cocoon, within 
which they gently laid him to rest, where 
the fairies found him. All the creatures that 
had known Tom Thumb crowded around the 


TOM THUMB 


125 


fairies, begging them not to take him from 
this world. There came the little white- 
bellied field mouse and the dragon fly; the 
black beetle and the moo-cow; the fuzzy 
bumble-bee and the horned oxen ; the raven 
and the fish; Tom’s little horse and the 
salmon ; every one imploring the fairies to 
leave their little pet where they might see 
and play with him, but the fairies could not 
disobey their queen, so they bore away the 
tiny body. 

The old rhyme says that: 

Although he ’s dead, his memory lives 
Recorded ever sure ; 

His very name some pleasure gives, 

And ever will endure. 



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bewitched : subjected to witchcraft or sorcery 

billet : a log 

canty : sprightly, merry 

dolt : a dunce, a stupid fellow 

dragon : a fabulous winged serpent 

flail : a wooden staff at the end of which a stouter and shorter 
pole is hung so as to swing freely ; used in threshing grain 
frumenty : food made of hulled wheat, milk, sugar, and fruit 
galliard : a gay dance 

gear : whatever is prepared for use or wear 
gliff : a transient glance 
glint : gleam 

glistering : glittering, gleaming 

goblin : a frightful or evil spirit 

griffin : a fabulous monster, half lion and half eagle 

hind : the female of the red deer 

jimp : neat ; handsome 

larder : a room where uncooked food is kept 

listed : leaning or inclining 

loon : a sorry fellow ; a stupid man 

maw : a stomach, now used only of the lower animals except 
in humor or contempt 
moat : a ditch 


127 


128 HERO FOLK OF ANCIENT BRITAIN 


nymph : a fabulous woman of mountains, forests, meadows, or 
waters 

ooze : soft mud or slime 
pluck : courage 

saddlebow : the front part of a saddle 
scepter : a staff borne by a king or queen 
signet : in England the seal used by the sovereign in signing 
private letters 
spooks : hobgoblins 
sprite : an elf 
taut : tight, secure 

tethered : confined with a long rope or chain 
thatching : covering so as to keep out rain or snow 
tinker : one who mends pans 

toll : a part of the grain taken by a miller in payment for 
grinding 

tournament : a mock fight 
trencher : a large wooden plate or platter 
tunic : a loose-fitting garment confined at the waist by a belt 
or girdle 

tussock : a dense tuft or bunch 
wand : a small stick or rod 
widgeons : small cranes or ducks 

wind door : an opening under the eaves for the escape of 
smoke 

winsome : light-hearted 




















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